novelraw Chapter 1709 - 1708 - Apprentice Tower
Chapter 1709 - 1708 - Apprentice Tower
Lind only pressed his hand against the Life Door and the world became golden white. He expected a trial or maybe a vision but instead he felt his Life layer connect even more deeply with his soul.
His harmony flared as emerald veins thickened around it. His mind felt a deeper connection to his own existence and even a more intimate grasp of his energies in his body.
Understanding flooded him. The entire Apprentice Tier was about his own journey. The Life Layer was closely tied to his own path and existence, thus for someone that had refined their Life layer, the tower acted more like a release.
He understood better what he was capable of and also what his life meant to himself. He had been struggling against the Bastard for so long but the core remained intact.
He wanted to make a path for all 6 elementals. He wanted to break the chains that had bound them for so long!
The focus on his layer revealed that the Mystery energy was far more powerful than he had realized. The stronger the Mystery or concept behind it, the greater power he could output. His body and foundation were the only other limits on his power!
He also confirmed the tower was far beyond the Divine Realm. It was not just his life he saw!
There were flashes of things that were similar but different from how he remembered them. He also saw that even Earth was not the same!
The cynical age he had died in had at one time been much darker! It looked like Earth had collapsed as a society! That version of him was far colder and closer to how most cultivators seemed to him when he started his journey.
So it was not just the final change that shifted Earth, but all the changes. He was seeing how all the changes were connected by his life and the lives of those that came before. Shouldn't that have been in the Samsara layer?
Lind simply felt the layer improve and his power with it. As the visions faded, he felt far firmer in his power than ever before.
He found himself back outside but he had no idea how long it had taken. There was no concept of time. He did notice that his newly refined body felt more in sync than before. He had better control and appreciated what was happening.
His body had far outstripped his previous level of power. Now, he could enhance it but he had felt like he was at the ceiling. The tower allowed him to both sense and refine his layers to that new ceiling!
He flew up to the Death Door but even before he got near it, he felt his Death Layer improving! He stepped inside and faced what would horrify most.
The end of life was rarely pretty or dignified. It was far more likely to leave the person praying for the miracle of a few more moments. Yet, it was a fact of existence and allowed life to thrive.
In order for things to endure, it must be allowed to grow. Nothing can live without death.
Death fuels life.
Lind felt his Death Layer shatter its restraints and the Life Layer countered its devastating aura. Lind stumbled to the 'ground' as his body was covered in sweat.
Compared to when he condensed his Mysteries, the visions he experienced as they were pushed beyond their previous limits made him feel like he experienced every facet of the layer itself.
The Mysteries were personal to him, but the Heart of Mysteries stripped away the final veil to the greater aspects of the layers. Lind began to suspect the purpose of cultivation was to attempt to reach such an understanding.
Divine Lords were rare already but their function was now clearer to him. They were not like True Lords that acted as both guardian and regulator of their respective race.
They were the shepherds of Heaven and Earth. The price was that they had to shoulder the knowledge and responsibility of that connection.
He could see many dying or losing their minds after just one session but his broad approach at each major cultivation realm had helped prepare him. Even a Divine Realm could not confront the barefaced reality of each Mystery layer without such a broad base to work from.
Many pursued cultivation to escape death and illness. Power was always a goal, but the fear of death could far outweigh power as a motivator. Power came in many forms but death was the end no matter how it arrived.
Lind took some time to stabilize his mind. He suspected that the Samsara Door would be the harshest yet.
Life and death, even for mortals, were fairly easy to grasp in profound ways. They were everyday facts no matter where one turned.
The Mysteries deepened both his connection to the Mystery layers and his general comprehension. He understood that the Mysteries were not just the purview of Heaven and Earth!
His head shot up at that thought! He had taken it for granted but he recalled that the broken Earth he had visited in the trial had imposed the restrictions on him, not Heaven and Earth!
When his power ran wild, it was the consequences, not Heavenly Wrath that worried him.
"Mysteries are the key to stepping beyond. They change us to separate and become our own existence without the need for Heaven and Earth." There was no reaction exactly but the Master Tier now made some sense with how it was represented.
If the Apprentice and Journeyman Tier was about solidifying his foundation and understanding of the Divine Lands, the step was all about preparing to forge his own journey.
He looked up at the 3 floating doors sealed to him and saw nothing connected at all but he began to wonder if that was the point. There was no set path. He had to make it himself!
Emerald lighting suddenly flared in the void around him but he had no idea why. It cracked and echoed briefly without touching anything.
What was that?
He sighed as no answers were coming. He had one more door for the Apprentice Tier and even floating in front of it made him shiver.
It was a deep silver and made his own layer look dim by comparison. The first 2 layers had actually been quite close so he truly expected a stark difference in the next few moments.
He sighed and pressed his hand against the door and he was pulled inside. Unlike the other 2 where visions immediately assaulted him, there was a silver room in front of him.
He was confused but then realized there was no door behind him! He was completely sealed in! He tried to flare his power but it was completely sealed as well! He was essentially a mortal again!
His body was unchanged so the physical power was there to use, yet Lind knew it would not help him.
"You should relax more. This is hardly something you should be panicking about." Lind froze as he had not detected anyone in the room but slowly turned and saw a chair had appeared. It was a darker silver but the old woman sitting on it was smiling kindly at him.
Her thick white hair was tied back with what seemed like animal hide and a wooden stick. Her woolen clothes were well maintained but not well made. The dress wrapped her small frame very snugly and gave her inviting grandma vibes.
Yet, Lind felt odd. It was like he was looking in a strange mirror. He knew her but had never met her in his life. Her toothy smile stretched and a strange feeling passed over him.
"You are me?" She nodded. Her aura flared and he felt a Master Tier power! It was nothing like him yet it was still so familiar.
"To be more precise, I am one of your cultivation lives that made it to an artifact like this. The Divine Lords have the Heart of Mysteries while humans and demons have to compete for a once an epoch special realm opening for a chance to refine our Mysteries and breakthrough to the Master Tier." He had never heard of such realms but he was admittedly busy and once an epoch meant entire generations of Divine Realm cultivators could fade before they returned.
Wars and other issues could contribute to that but he also suspected intentional suppression by those powers trying to limit the rivals entering it.
"Who made them?" His question made her cackle as she shook her head.
"I am only an echo from you, not really me. I faded long ago. It is pure chance I was able to return at all. Most of me is just gone. I am here for your current refinement, not to answer questions." Lind tilted his head.
Why would he meet a past version of himself to refine his Samsara Layer? Wouldn't more intense visions work? As if reading his mind, she suddenly had a potent cane artifact in her hand.
It was made of wood but lined in metal. The instant it appeared, Lind felt his head split open. He understood then!
The Samsara Layer was just as literal as the other 2! The unvarnished reality of previous lives tied to his soul in part or whole, flooded not just his mind, but his actual soul!
He had fused his soul to his body so now blood burst from every orifice and the once nearly invincible bones cracked before shattering.
His organs and meridians were mashed into mush. All that was left was his soul as energy once more before it was rebuilt. At the heart of it, an emerald flame grew before he nearly was consumed by the chaos.
Billions, no trillions of lifetimes were trying to return via his current existence but their time was over! His mind slowly began to clear as he asserted not only his existence but those that came before.
Names, places, and all facets of those lives became the fuel to refine his soul as his body repaired itself. His body and soul were now in far better sync as they fused back into one.
His silver Samsara Layer now matched the intensity of the black and gold white of the previous 2. His harmony joined them again and the Apprentice Tier foundation became not only rock solid but more profound than he could ever achieve in a short time on his own.
How many billions of years would it take to achieve the same result? Lind could not conceive of it.
He awoke in the silver room with the woman smiling down at him.
"Make sure you stop the Bastard. You saw, right?" He slowly nodded. So many lives lost to the Fiends. He had been lucky his soul had endured or been fried with the death of the Fiend.
"He will pay." She smiled wide and he found himself on his back looking up at the tower. The 3 lower doors now shimmered with emerald light before disappearing. The next tier awaited him.